4 ms·

Pine is Hongkong tough.

by turbinerneiter 5y ago

camgunz 5y ago
Whoa I had no idea. I feel like everyone I've seen doing Pine64 things lives somewhere in Europe. What a world.
- stryan 5y ago
  They actually started as a California-based company before re-basing to Hong Kong back in (IIRC) 2019. Not sure why the change.
  - capableweb 5y ago
    Doing business from the US is a minefield today, not at all like it used to be. Almost any other country is better if you just want to focus on running a business, so not so surprising that they relocated.
    - yumraj 5y ago
      > Doing business from the US is a minefield today As opposed to doing business from China. Hmm, really.....
      - Fnoord 5y ago
        If they do business from China or Hong Kong they can get away with shoddy 1 month warranty, simple as that. Nobody's gonna bust those who are behind the company from countries like China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, ...
        yumraj 5y ago
        If that's what the OP meant, yes I agree.
    - pengaru 5y ago
      The previous US administration going to war with China on trade created a lot of uncertainty and concern surrounding tariffs and delays/parts availability. Through that lens it probably makes a lot of sense to simply move your operation to China, when that covers the bulk of the relevant supply chain for your products. Especially if you have no other barriers deterring the relocation, like language or cultural challenges...
capableweb 5y ago
That seems to be relatively recent though, originally US based. This is what Wikipedia says about the history: > Pine64 initially operated as Pine Microsystems Inc. (Fremont, California), founded by TL Lim > all devices for the Kickstarter campaign were manufactured and sold by Pine Microsystems Inc. based in Fremont, California. > In January 2020, Pine Microsystems Inc. was dissolved while Pine Store Limited was incorporated on December 5, 2019 in Hong Kong. As of late 2020, the standard form contract of pine64.com binds all orders to the laws of Malaysia, while the products are shipped from warehouses in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine64 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine64
- Fnoord 5y ago
  In Hong Kong they can get away with their shoddy 1 month warranty. In USA or EU, not so much.
  - selfhoster11 5y ago
    This means that they can also get away with charging very low prices for their products. PinePhone is the first Linux smartphone that I wanted to buy, simply because it's so cheap and I won't weep if it fails.
    - mrtweetyhack 5y ago
      you'll weep if it fails in a month
      - selfhoster11 5y ago
        Even if it had functioning warranty, it would cost me at least half of the original price to post the item to them for repairs (it's halfway across the world). That's not a win, really.
    - BugWatch 5y ago
      I also highly recommend their Pinecil soldering iron, as well as tabletop power supply. Amazing value for the money.

Pine is Hongkong tough.

camgunz 5y ago

Whoa I had no idea. I feel like everyone I've seen doing Pine64 things lives somewhere in Europe. What a world.

stryan 5y ago
They actually started as a California-based company before re-basing to Hong Kong back in (IIRC) 2019. Not sure why the change.
- capableweb 5y ago
  Doing business from the US is a minefield today, not at all like it used to be. Almost any other country is better if you just want to focus on running a business, so not so surprising that they relocated.
  - yumraj 5y ago
    > Doing business from the US is a minefield today As opposed to doing business from China. Hmm, really.....
    - Fnoord 5y ago
      If they do business from China or Hong Kong they can get away with shoddy 1 month warranty, simple as that. Nobody's gonna bust those who are behind the company from countries like China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, ...
      - yumraj 5y ago
        If that's what the OP meant, yes I agree.
  - pengaru 5y ago
    The previous US administration going to war with China on trade created a lot of uncertainty and concern surrounding tariffs and delays/parts availability. Through that lens it probably makes a lot of sense to simply move your operation to China, when that covers the bulk of the relevant supply chain for your products. Especially if you have no other barriers deterring the relocation, like language or cultural challenges...

capableweb 5y ago

That seems to be relatively recent though, originally US based. This is what Wikipedia says about the history: > Pine64 initially operated as Pine Microsystems Inc. (Fremont, California), founded by TL Lim > all devices for the Kickstarter campaign were manufactured and sold by Pine Microsystems Inc. based in Fremont, California. > In January 2020, Pine Microsystems Inc. was dissolved while Pine Store Limited was incorporated on December 5, 2019 in Hong Kong. As of late 2020, the standard form contract of pine64.com binds all orders to the laws of Malaysia, while the products are shipped from warehouses in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine64 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine64

Fnoord 5y ago
In Hong Kong they can get away with their shoddy 1 month warranty. In USA or EU, not so much.
- selfhoster11 5y ago
  This means that they can also get away with charging very low prices for their products. PinePhone is the first Linux smartphone that I wanted to buy, simply because it's so cheap and I won't weep if it fails.
  - mrtweetyhack 5y ago
    you'll weep if it fails in a month
    - selfhoster11 5y ago
      Even if it had functioning warranty, it would cost me at least half of the original price to post the item to them for repairs (it's halfway across the world). That's not a win, really.
  - BugWatch 5y ago
    I also highly recommend their Pinecil soldering iron, as well as tabletop power supply. Amazing value for the money.